He's arrived!

Calvin Jay has arrived!

Vital Stats:
Born: ~12:25 am Monday, July 24, 2006 in Muskegon, Michigan (kickin' and a screamin')
Weight: 8 Pounds, 11.2 ounces
Length: 20.5 inches, including a nice little cone from all of mom's hard work
Lots of dark brown hair, styled like papa.

M and I had a doctors appointment on Sunday morning at the birthing center to receive a second dose of Cytotech, a drug used to cause contractions witch release hormones that cause the cervix to deface (thin). The first dose of this drug did not seem to do too much and M was not dilated on Sunday morning. Turns out, sometime Saturday, about the time M thought she lost her mucus plug, she also broke her water. Little Cal's head helped to seal the deal and M barely noticed anything irregular. Well, after that second dose and some quick monitoring, we headed for some shopping and then home for a quick nap (papa wanted to watch the Tigers beat Cleveland). No sooner had the second inning quit when M was in the bathroom with some MAJOR CONTRACTIONS! She went from 0 to 60 in matter of 10 minutes and was experiencing contractions at a frequency of constant to 3 minutes apart. We waited a little over an hour and realized that, real or not, this was major and we needed to go in to the hospital. M was in a LOT of pain and never got a break. By the time we were admitted and in to a room, M was 3 cm dilated and Dr. Kip felt a head of jungle-man hair.

M was tired. The epidural was an amazing thing to experience. Watching the severity of the contractions on the monitor increase while M was actually able to exist/function like a human being really amazed me. Her progress looked good she averaged just under a centimeter per hour and we hoped to gear up for a pre-midnight birth (my great-grandpa's B-day was the 23rd). No such luck. After much fussing a fooling around, Calvin's heart rate remained a cool 140's to 150's, even during contractions. This, it turned out really worried the Doc's and nurses (M and I were just happy not to see the rate drop during contractions like it had earlier in the evening for a little while.)

After a little over 10 hours of labor, it was beginning to appear that it was a no go. M's epidural was wearing out and she was NOT ready to go through that in full force again...turns out, our little man was star-gazing ("sunny side up," said Tee) and his head was mashing on mom's spine, etc. After some observed pushing, the on-call doctor and resident decided that a C-Section was the way to go. Cal's mellow mood was not safe for the rigors of labor; each of M's contractions should have corresponded with an increase in his heart rate. It was midnight, by 1207 the room and staff were ready and we were on our way. I geared up and M was prepped for surgery.

In retrospect, it is amazing how quickly it all went down. After waiting in the anteroom for 10 minutes the ushered me into position and M's head and they started making the cuts. Wam, bam, baby-nuts. He coughed, cried, and cooed...his head had a nice little cone and a ton of hair, (hold on it it while you can, little man.) I cut the cord (again) and we said hi to a tired and doped up mommy. Then it was off to the nursery for a bath and vitals.

It was wonderful being with Calvin in the first hours of his life, a real time of bonding. Bittersweet, though, because I yearned to tell M how he was and to find out how she was doing. I wanted to be with her and there was no doing it until she was stable in recovery. I passed the camera to the doctor so M could at least see some of the snaps and movies I was experiencing. She appreciated it.

We were moved from a nice big room (106) to what you'd expect for a hospital (109). Guess they don't pull out all of the stops for a C-section family...we made it cozy. When M was finally able to go the room, I brought Cal down and introduced them proper...the rest of the night was ours.

You get little 20-40 minute naps at a hospital, it turns out, because everybody has an agenda, no matter what the hour.

In the morning the cavalry arrived in the form of friends and family. The rest is history. He's now a handful of minutes over one day old. Love you buddy!

T Plus Five Days

Still no baby!

M went to the doctor on Monday for a Non-Stress Test to monitor the baby's movement and look for any contractions. Oddly enough, only the day before she was worried that he was not moving enough; after a shock of sugary goodies and a walk, he started fussing and made M feel a little better.

But talk about baited anxiety! M has really had it: a combination of fatigue with the pregnancy situation, anxiety for her performance as a mother and with the birth, and excitement for the next stage of our lives to finally come along. Fatigue and boredom are a part of her daily routine now. She's ready. I am too.

As far as the house goes, there is nothing more that can be done to ready it for his arrival. We put some finishing touches on the room over the past few weeks including clouds along the top (not shown on the previous picture) and painted, wooden stars along the chair rail. This kid's room is cute. Yeah, cute. Anyway, despite some minor flaws in workmanship (only God is perfect and we live in a fallen world) I am pretty proud of the remodeling/renovation effort at the old shack.

Come on out and play, little man.